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The ABCs of the New iPad

A Significant Moment for Apple

The unveiling of the third generation of iPad is significant for Apple in more ways than you can imagine. After all, it is the first major product launch since the passing of its co-founder Steve Jobs. Will the "magic touch" of Steve Jobs be missed? What does Apple have up its sleeves this time to enable the new iPad to leapfrog the competition? As per usual, we round up some of the most interesting rumors on the new iPad and compare them with the facts.

Specifications

Facts

Rumors

Dimensions

The new iPad measures 9.4mm, which is a hairline thicker than its predecessor (8.8mm)

652g (Wi-Fi)

662g (Wi-Fi + 4G)

Trusted inside sources of iLounge reported that the new iPad model will increase its thickness by 0.7mm to accommodate a twin light bar system used in higher-resolution displays.

iLounge Editor-in-Chief Jeremy Horwitz claimed to have some hands-on with the new model and said it is "roughly 1mm" thicker than the iPad 2.

Featuring the same advanced optics as the iPhone 4S, the new iPad sports a 5-megapixel rear camera with backside-illuminated sensor (BSI), 5 element lens, IR filter and image signal processor built into the A5X chip.

Apple Daily received two photos which show the alleged iPad 3 model to have more tapered edges and a bigger camera lens. Information obtained through 'special channels" pointed out that the device to have a 8-megapixel camera sensor.

The new iPad vs. iPad 2

For easy reference, we have summarized the key differences between the new iPad and the iPad 2.

The new iPad has a Retina display with a higher resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels compared to the 1024 x 768 pixels on the iPad 2.

The imaging aspect is upgraded in the new iPad, where you will see a 5-megapixel camera module with the same advanced optics as the iPhone 4S

4G LTE is supported on the new iPad which delivers data speeds up to 73Mbps.

There is a slight increase in thickness (9.4mm) and weight (652g for Wi-Fi, 662g for 4G) for the new iPad.

The new iPad will be available in the U.S, Canada, U.K, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia from March 16, with expected delivery between March 16 to 22. Three storage variants (16/32/64GB) will be available along with two different versions, the Wi-Fi and 4G LTE

Prices of the different models are:

Apple iPad (3rd Generation, Wi-Fi)

Apple iPad (3rd Generation, 4G LTE)

16GB

S$658

S$828

32GB

S$788

S$958

64GB

S$918

S$1088

Meanwhile, the Apple iPad 2 (16GB) variants will see a price drop to S$528 and S$698 for the Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G models. According to Apple, the 32GB and 64GB versions will no longer be available.